Position of Powerheads in Cycling Tank

[MatthewLaw]

Greetings All- I purchased two (2) Koralia 2 powerheads for my 29g tank. The tank is still cycling and has live rock inside.

Where should I mount the power heads (low, mid, high level) on the wall and where should they be directed (towards the LR, towards the surface)?

Finally should they be on the same side or on opposing sides (as I have read from other posts)?

THanks for the help. -Matt

 

[Airborneguy]

I have a similar set-up, just a larger tank. I have them positioned on opposite sides of the tank, both pointed towards the surface, and I have adequate flow throughout the entire tank for my reef.

 

[MatthewLaw]

My filter is mounted on the 'back' of the tank and the protein skimmer is next to it. I asume some cross flow (left to right, right to left) would work best.

Where do you have your powerheads mounted? bottom of the tank and pointing or middle/high and pointing up?

 

[Joe Fish]

You want the PH at the top so they ripple the surface of the water. This will help the gas exchange. You also want to angle them towards the front of the glass, but not too much. This will help distribute the flow.

 

[MatthewLaw]

so put it in the back top of the tank so it angles diagonal upwards?

no need to blow 'directly' on the LR?

 

[Joe Fish]

You can blow them on the rocks if you want, but that will stop a lot of flow. I have mine in the middle of the sides angled toward the front...

 

[quaddity]

In my 75 I have 4 powerheads. An Aquaclear 70 that points across the top of the water from one end of the tank for exchange. 2 Koralia 2's that are on the sides pointing down a bit towards the center and a Koralia 1 at the top in the back in the middle that points down towards the back of the reef. All four run on a wave maker with short on/off alternating cycles for the Koralia 2s, a longer varied time for the 1 in the back and the 70 at the top runs most of the time. Not sure if I'm going to keep it that way or not for now seems to work pretty good. May ditch the wavemaker at some point but may not. Next week when I get my sump up and running I'll have another probably 1000 gph of flow from the returns and I'll probably get ride of the Aquaclear.

 

[MatthewLaw]

hmm thanks for the help. i think i will put it in the middle of the tank and point it upwards so it touches the LR as it shoots upward...

Is there any typical method for initializing power heads? Or just plug and play? haha